Category Archives: Lamy

I got some Lamy Turquoise cartridges on a whim from Amazon. They were $4.50 and I think I added them in to some other order. You get 5 cartridges for that price so it’s not a bad deal if you have a Lamy fountain pen. It’s a terrible deal if you don’t have a Lamy fountain pen since the cartridges are proprietary. I happen to have so many Safaris and Al-Stars that I literally don’t know how many I have. I can usually put my hands on at least five at any one time. They are great for doing reviews because you can just change nibs on the same pen to see how an ink performs for different nibs.

Anyway, the Lamy turquoise is a really intense blue. In a wet writer it is a deep, clear blue. In a dry writer or an extra fine or fine nib, the color is a lighter, more traditional turquoise color. I like this color in both instances so it’s like having two colors for the price of one. This is also one of those colors that shades wildly in some pens and on some papers and not at all in other pens or on other papers. I have one Lamy where the feed has really generous flow, in this pen the color was just like the color from the 1.5mm calligraphy nib. The exact same nib on a pen with a stingier feed gave the lighter turquoise color.

As a lefty, one of the most important aspects of an ink is how fast it dries. This ink isn’t going to win any speed records but it is noticeably faster than most inks. It is water resistant when dry. I didn’t show this on the scan but I’m always drinking something in my office and writing, so trust me, I know. The paper I’ve been using lately is Rhodia or super cheap copy paper (I work at a library where every penny counts). The paper in the scans for this review is Rhodia.

As an aside, my normal ink pusher supplier GouletPens now carries these cartridges, too. Same price but I love dealing with Rachel and Brian so I’m giving them a little plug. This shop is where I’ll be buying my next box of cartridges.

I have a thing for Safari’s and Al-Stars. I have lots of them and they come and go. For instance, earlier today I wrote with my Ice Blue Al-Star. I know I did because I have a piece of paper to prove it. However, if asked to place my hand on that pen at any given time I wouldn’t be able to do it. Right now, I don’t know where that pen has gotten to.

My Lamy’s drift in and out of my life. I always seem to have one around. Right now, I have three at my office desk. They are all Al-Stars, so I have an M nibbed Black Purple, an M nibbed Raspberry, and an Aluminum colored EF. The Raspberry isn’t inked and has never been inked. It sits just in case I have to have a new color available to write with. (I know that’s weird. I’ve accepted this and moved on.)

Up until recently when it disappeared, I was writing a lot with a plain old blue Safari. I haven’t seen it in a few weeks. It will turn back up. One of the upsides to being the only person I know that likes fountain pens is that no one steals or borrows those pens. Still I don’t know why my Lamy’s like to disappear and reappear. Just one of those things…